We recently connected with Tim Swanson and have shared our conversation below.

Tim, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

The mission of Capital Accordion Company is to provide the much needed service of repair and education to a community of musicians that has very few resources.

Back in the 1950’s, before rock n roll had everybody playing the guitar, the accordion was the most popular instrument in North America. You could find accordionists in all kinds of different jazz bands, ethnic folk groups and even “classical” ensembles. When bands like The Beatles came into the spotlight, suddenly the accordion wasn’t so cool and people put their instruments in their cases and stowed them away in an attic or a basement and forgot all about it.

Nowadays, people are discovering Grandma or Grandpa’s accordion they didn’t know they had and want to learn how to play it. But the two common problems people face are that they have nobody to teach them how to play it and even if they do, when an accordion has sat unused for 40 plus years it falls into disrepair and there is nobody around who has any idea how to properly fix it.

My goal is to not only provide both of those services but to also play a part in rebuilding the accordion community that was once so robust.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My teenage rebellion took the form of playing accordion. Edgy, I know. It seemed to me that everyone played the guitar and I wanted to set myself apart. Down the street from where I grew up was a sort of spooky old house with a sign hanging in the front yard that said “accordion lessons”. It always kind of fascinated me. After expressing interest in it, my mom surprised me one Christmas with an accordion.

I was born and raised in northeast Ohio. Luckily for me growing up in the suburbs of Cleveland, there was a relatively strong accordion presence leftover from the legacy of players like Frankie Yankovic and the large communities of Italian and Eastern European descendants where the accordion is firmly embedded in the folk traditions, Thankfully, the “spooky house” was taking students and I was able to begin learning from a professional – a man named Tony Costa. At that time he had been playing accordion for 80 years. During World War II he played accordion to entertain the troops. He even shared the stage with Bob Hope. He was a phenomenal player and would still play gigs at the age of 86.

The first time I had an issue with my accordion, I didn’t know any repair technicians and none of the local music shops had technicians who knew how to fix accordions. This left me to figure things out on my own whenever any issues came up. In 2013 I moved to Seattle, WA and attended Renton Technical College where I got my certification in the Band Instrument Repair program. The focus was on brass and woodwind instruments with a small course on string and percussion instruments. When I asked my instructor if he ever had to work on accordions he said thankfully not. While the program didn’t explicitly teach anything about accordion repair, it opened me up to a whole new mechanical skill set I hadn’t really known I possessed and gave me more confidence to tinker with my accordion.

Around the beginning of the pandemic an accordion shop in Philadelphia, PA called Liberty Bellows had a job opening for a repair technician. I was fortunate to get the job and have the opportunity to really immerse myself in the accordion world. I worked alongside and was mentored by people who had much more experience than me . Over the course of several years I got to work on thousands of accordions. It also showed me how underserved most parts of the U.S. and Canada really are for accordion teachers and technicians.

When my wife I and decided to move back to Ohio, I knew that I was going to open up my own shop repairing and selling accordions and offering lessons. I offer every kind of repair service imaginable, from cleaning to tuning and complete refurbishments. As I mentioned, accordion repair technicians are very few and far between and more often than not, the technician doesn’t do it professionally. It’s either a side hustle or a hobby or they’re some other kind of instrument tech and they’ve worked on a handful of accordions in the past and so they kind of know their way around things. I don’t say this to disparage anyone, some of these people are brilliant techs regardless of how much work they’re doing. I only want to illustrate the point that there is only a handful of full-time, professional accordion repair techs in North America and I take pride in being one of them.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

The music industry is starving for repair techs and the only two avenues for learning the trade are either going through one of three programs offered in the U.S. or getting an apprenticeship at an established shop. The program I went through at Renton Technical College, and the other two schools that offer similar programs, fast track you into the network of instrument repair jobs. After I graduated with my certificate in band instrument repair getting a job was essentially guaranteed but you have to be flexible and be willing to go to where the jobs are. At the time, that was a flexibility that I did not have.

My future wife, and my band, were all located in Columbus, OH and I knew that that was where I was going after school was finished. I reached out to every shop in Central Ohio in hopes that they might need a tech with no luck. I half-heartedly tried starting my own business repairing instruments with no real experience and no funds to get me started. I started falling in and out of random jobs. In time, the idea of working in instrument repair faded away. Eventually I fell into a job screen printing at a shop owned by a friend of mine where I worked for four years and then covid happened.

Right at the beginning of covid, my friend sold the business. The culture of the company changed and I experienced one of those “this can’t be my future” type of moments. In a twist of timing is everything good fortune, Liberty Bellows, an accordion shop in Philadelphia, PA posted a job ad for a repair tech. Suddenly my dream job that I never really thought existed opened up before me. I applied with the expectation that there would be no way I’d be offered the job. Surely someone more qualified would be clamoring for it but I knew I had to try. The next day I got a call from the owner of the shop asking how soon I’d be able to make a trip out to Philly for an interview and a bench test. The next weekend my wife and I went out there and at the end of the day the boss asked when I could start. Within six weeks, we sold our house, packed up a truck and moved to the east coast.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

My experience working at an established and well-respected shop is invaluable. Being one of the only accordion specific shops in North America, when people read on my website that I was a tech at Liberty Bellows I think it imbues a certain level of trust between the customer and me. I would also like to think that I am a kind and respectful person who does good work, so hopefully that helps.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.capitalaccordion.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/capital.accordion.co/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61552508104841

Image Credits

Katja Ryabtseva